Leo

Having Spotlight has been great for my kids. He is the kind of pony that you can cross-tie or even leave loose in a stall with a kid and a box of brushes while you go do chores, he's very careful of them and I trust him without needing to hover.

Spot is also okay as a leadline pony, sometimes having a little fit or trying to bite me as I lead him, but all in all after heaving a deep sigh he'll haul around his little squirmy friends without too much attitude.

Unfortunately, Spotlight is no fun as a riding pony solo. He isn't dangerous, just enough of a brat to make his rider want to get off and go do something else. Daisy reins fixed the problems we immediately had with him yanking the reins out of a kid's hands to graze and a full cheek bit with a slow twist fixed the problem of him refusing to turn or stop. Still, even with me riding him during the week, Spotlight will balk, throw tiny rears when he is trying to out match his kid owners, and generally make things un-fun. Spotlight excels at riding with other horses, with Thoroughbreds that like to spook and be unpredictable, I couldn't take that chance. Managing my own horse under saddle was enough of a challenge, I couldn't be fretting Mom over the kids at the same time.

Chris and I have talked many times about prospect horses and taking racehorses in. We ultimately decided to put the whole "save a racehorse" project down for awhile. Then the drawings started showing up from another daughter of mine, only four years old...

Everyday.

Sometimes 4 or 5 of them.

She begged for trips up to the barn and when I would bring her, she pleaded to sit on each of the horses in turn. I began a little soul searching on how my time was best spent when I was looking at horse additions.

I came across Leo, listed by his owner because she worked out of town 4 to 5 days a week and had no time,  Leo was the horse she started on as a kid and she wanted him to have a new kid.

Leo is a sixteen year old 14.2 hand Haflinger Arabian cross and cute as pie. He is easy going, a gelding (a requirement of mine), and has always gone barefoot. Sage rode him and loved him right away, not hard for a little girl and a gray horse. Mikayla rode him (me leading) and he took excellent care with her too. Sage handled and led him from the ground, something she struggles with since she is so small statured, and he was good for that too.

Leo was perfect, except... yep, there's always an except, people don't just sell level headed kid-safe cute geldings.The rare times you can find them for sale they either have a 5 figure price tag or they are 29 years old.

Leo wasn't either of those things, but he also wasn't sound. Per his previous owner, one morning two years ago, he couldn't walk. The vet diagnosed the stifle as the problem and recommended a trip to the University. The owner's farrier later said it was the hip that was the issue. Either way, it went untreated.

As he came out of his stall and I saw him for the first time, I immediately thought, "No." His hip bone sat inches off, crooked. His right rear leg was straight and rested behind him. His tail was also held to the left. It all looked contorted and wrong. I knew he had an issue with his leg, it was in his listing as not affecting his soundness.

I called up my horse chiropractor and told him what I could see.  He felt that he may be able to help the horse after I sent him photos and video. Leo didn't appear to be in any pain when we tacked up for Sage to take him out.

Watching him move, it was hard to see anything wrong. Just being outside he immediately looked better. He looked "off" on his rear but not lame, no head bob, no foot dragging or anything like that. He listened to Sage's riding and they enjoyed themselves. In the photo below, the rear leg that is weight baring is the "off" leg.

I decided to take him home on the condition that we could bring him back within 2 weeks. I wanted a vet and a chiropractor to put hands on him and tell me the two things I needed to know, was he in pain and would it get worse. If the answers to those questions were "No", I didn't see any reason he wouldn't fit our needs for a horse.

Once home, Leo quickly was renamed Pegasus by the girls, and settled in.

Predictably, the boys ran Leo like crazy the next day. Everyone was worked into a frenzy of "new horse" and Czech made it his mission to soundness test him. Leo ran, trotted, and walked to graze loose all day like a normal horse. Grazing, he hardly even cocks his hip.

Today, my farrier came out to take care of the boys and met him. I wanted my first outsider's opinion and he laid it on me. Looking at the horse in the barn, hip cocked, tail offset, leg held odd, he said, "Send him back."

After taking care of the rest of the horses, we turned everyone out to the pasture and I asked the farrier to look again. He shook his head and said, "Now I'm not sure what to think. I'm real interested to know what your vet says" as Leo trotted around and overall looked like a normal horse at play.

It's hard to explain "maybe" to little people who have already proclaimed everlasting love for the new horse. In seven days the vet will be here to tell me their opinion. If it will get worse, I can't do it. I can't put my wallet or my emotions through that. Ditto if he is in pain. If, however, he is what he is and is comfortable, we'll keep Leo/Pegasus and his quirky leg, hoping chiropractic help may offer some improvement.

It would be good to have another horse here that can be mobbed by kids and ridden with Spotlight so they can ride together. Fingers crossed...